I live in a mid-western community and there seems to be an unspoken rule among high school coaches here that one coach is never to say anything negative about another coach, even if that coach’s actions may be damaging the well-being of one of his or her athletes. I’ve found some coaches are what I’ve termed “blowviators” – that is, they pay lip service to caring about the welfare of kids but when it comes to stepping up to the plate and identifying a problem with another coach they seem to slither away like a shrinking violet. This is really too bad since I recently witnessed an exchange between a boys head basketball coach and one of his players where the coach refused to listen to his player’s problems and frustrations. In this particular case, I found out later that the coach has a drinking problem and even though the school principal, who I assume is aware of this, has not taken action to give the coach a leave of absence so he can get some help from the local AA Chapter. When I approached one of the local coaches about the problem he just laughed it off as if it were no big deal. I don’t know about you, but if my son were playing for a coach who constantly smelled of vodka I’d do something about it.